30 June 2012

...and yet another unusual Barn Owl nest

Barn Owls can nest in a variety of sites, once the basic criteria are met – undisturbed, dry, large enough to take a family of owls, and usually high enough to be out of the reach of ground predators. We've already seen some of the more unusual nest sites in Duhallow, such as the tree nestsHERE, and HERE.

Around Ireland, the list of nest sites also includes old churches, derelict buildings of all types, quarries, chimneys, castles and more recently of course, nest boxes. But how about this one? Not quite in Duhallow, but not far from it either. The only Barn Owls we know of in Ireland that have chosen to nest in a water cistern… Filmed yesterday.

Barn Owl nest, in a water cistern, Co. Kerry, June 2012 (Filmed under licence from NPWS. M.O'Clery).

You can help!

If you have sightings of owls or nesting Kestrels, please contact us HERE.

About the survey

The Duhallow Raptor Conservation Project is co-ordinated by BirdWatch Ireland, is funded by IRD Duhallow through the LEADER 2007–2013 Programme, and is carried out in collaboration with the Duhallow Birdwatching Group. Duhallow is an important area for specific raptor populations, and this project aims to learn more about these elusive species and to implement direct conservation measures to benefit raptors on a local and national basis. The Duhallow Raptor Survey will be conducted from March 2012, and covers NW Cork and E Kerry. For more, see this page HERE.